The last of our stops on this tour was also extremely interesting and disturbing. This is the place most tourist want to see. The Capuchin monastery near the Trevi Fountain was at capacity for burial space. What to do? A move to a larger church which required moving all the corpses of the deceased monks. This occurred in 1631, and the bones and skeleton remains were arranged in a certain order. The first discovery of these crypts occurred in 1775 by the Marquis De Sade who visited the cemetery and underneath rooms.
There are 3,700 monks buried here and no documentation of who designed the 6 rooms filled with bones. The Capuchin monks believed that death is a normal part of life not to be feared. Death should be a celebration of ones life.
Fascinating and creepy at the same time. There are thousand upon thousands of every bone of the body hung with chicken wire. If a bone falls on the floor it has to be buried properly in the cemetery. There were skeletons with facial hair still on, and one mummified skin still on. One had its head sinking into its shoulders. We would have never known about this wonder but so intriguing.
JerseygirladventuresontheMediterranean2019 